Sorry, can't think who asked this question off the top of my head, but
as I know there have been mixed answers to the safety of microchip
i.d.'s in ferrets, I thought I'd jump in with my two cents right away.
 
My older ferret has a microchip.  In addition, my baby, and probably
both my birds will be microchipped as soon as our annual vet-school
microchip day occurs (we get free chips from AVID microchip company in
exchange for learning how to insert them and considering them when we
set up practice in the future).  Some people seem to think they have the
potential to be harmful, but in my opinion this is usually reactionary --
often to a story in which all sides were not heard.  In fact the only
problems I've heard of at all are that occasionally the chip will move
from where it's implanted, but this has never caused a real problem to
my knowledge.
 
The chips are tiny -- they fit in a 12 gauge syringe (quite big for a
syringe, but quite small as far as invasiveness).  They were, the last time
I participated in microchip day two years ago, implanted in the subcutaneous
skin behind the ear in ferrets, between the shoulder blades in cats and
dogs, and I can't remember where offhand in birds.  Here they stay,
completely inert and harmless, a permanent identification should your pet be
lost or stolen.  The glitch is that to retrieve the animal's i.d.  number
and call the company to get owner information, you have to have a reader.
Many vet schools and humane societies are armed with these readers.  *But*
there is no universal reader and therefore if the chip is from a different
company than the reader, it won't be detected.  *This* is a problem that
needs to be solve before the implants are 100% effective.  There are to my
knowledge 2-4 companies selling the chips, and they need to cooperate if any
one of them wants to be extremely successful.  I choose to do this mostly
because there is nothing to be lost and because at the very least if there
ever came a dispute with a shelter or a thief or whatever over my ownership
of one of my pets, *I* would know which company to call and which reader to
use to prove my point.  And there's always the chance that a shelter one of
my pets ends up in if lost *might* well have the right reader.  If so, then
it's been worth the small trouble to have the implants done.
 
Cost is another issue -- it's easy for me to endorse implants I get for
free.  I believe they're running somewhere around $40-$50 for implant and
registration, per animal.  Perhaps higher in some places.  Where -- call
around to vets or if there's a vet school in your area that's a good bet.
 
[Moderator's note: Some readers can't *detect* other chips, but won't give
the numbers of the foreign chips, but will identify their manufacturer.  At
least that's a start.  Costs around here (New York) seem to be somewhat lower
than Laura's figures... amazing that New York is cheaper for a change!  BIG]
 
If you don't mind the money and would rather be safe than sorry, I highly
recommend this method of identification as safe and, unlike any other,
permanent.  (There have been comments in the past about the hypothetical
situation of a thief harming an animal by trying to remove an implant.  In
my opinion, it's not something most pet thieves would know existed, except
perhaps if it were a valuable bird, in which case they probably (wishful
thinking?) wouldn't risk lowering the birds sale value by attempting
minor surgery and messing it up.  In ferrets, I think the liklihood of an
attempt to remove the chip is nearly nill).
 
I can give you the 800 number for AVID (American Veterinary Identification)
if you're interested.  Write me privately if you are and I'll dig it out.
 
Laura
 
Laura L'Heureux Kupkee
U. of Illinois Vet Med FINAL YEAR
[log in to unmask] (yes, folks, finally a reasonable address!)
[Posted in FML issue 1275]